In Matthew 5 we find Jesus making reference to those who have accepted God as the Director of their lives. Of these Jesus highlights those who are meek, who mourn, etc. In verse six He speaks of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, promising to fill them. To be “filled”with righteousness leaves no room for sin. Note He does not say “partially filled.” Being filled with righteousness is the end result of hungering and thirsting for it, consuming that which leads to it–the Word (Ps. 119: 123,142,172;Rom. 8:4;), and doing (obeying) it (1 Jn. 2:29). True spiritual hunger and thirst are all-consuming; they dominate the life of the true seeker of God. Nothing else matters. One does what one must do in the secular world but his/her focus, allegiance, passion and zeal are directed in one direction only–upward where Father and Son sit on their thrones in heaven. The desire to be one with Them dominates one’s life and directs one’s existence. There is no room for the world’s “things,” including man’s religion.

Church people do not hunger and thirst for righteousness on their part in that they believe it is neither necessary nor possible. Since they are already saved, and Jesus’ righteousness makes them righteous in God’s eyes, they have no need to hunger and thirst for it, nor to do what God says is necessary to receive and maintain it. Question: If Jesus blesses with salvation only those who crave righteousness, what is the end of those who believe that, due to Adam’s fall, sin is natural and expected in their lives? They find themselves in an untenable situation–they have received both Adam’s sin and God’s righteousness by fiat–they are both hot and cold, good and evil. God makes it clear that righteousness and sin cannot reside in the same temple (saint-1 Cor. 3:16). The absence of righteousness is sin; the absence of sin is righteousness–the two cannot mix: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And What communion has light with darkness? And what relationship has Christ with Belial (Satan)? (2 Cor. 6:14,15). Question: why does man refuse to obey God’s Word unto righteousness, holiness and salvation? Answer: obedience to God makes him subservient to God.  Man prefers to serve another entity.

The Lord commands man to choose whom he will serve. There is no middle ground, no gray, no mixing–we either serve God unto life or Satan unto death. Man cannot do both. We are either wheat or tares, good fish or bad fish, sheep or goats. A “sinner saved by grace”does not exist. One is either a sinner or a saint; one serves either God or Satan. Romans 6:6 states that once we are converted we cannot serve (continue to) sin. Romans 6:15-19,22 allows God’s light to evaporate church fog relative to this issue. Are we allowed to sin because we are under grace? GOD FORBIDS IT. The one we obey is the one we serve. Through true conversion we are delivered from sin. God commands that we stay free of sin (Rom. 6:7,18). One cannot serve God and Satan. God’s “tree” can produce only one kind of “fruit”–good or bad–by which he/she is known to Him (Lk. 6:43). Professing believers who produce bad fruit (sinners saved by grace) will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Mat. 13:24-30). Until then both good and bad trees will remain together in the “orchard.” Wheat and tares will remain together in the “wheat field.” Both good and bad fish will remain together as “the body.” Both wise and foolish virgins remained together as “the church” until the Bridegroom arrived. Jesus will separate the real from the counterfeit at His second advent, at which time His tiny, despised flock will … shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of God (Mat. 13:43).

In Matthew 16:23,24 Jesus explains that Satan entices religious man to do his bidding by giving him what he wants– self-governance. In this passage we find that Peter had rebuked the Lord for saying something that did not fit his theology. Jesus then addresses the source of Peter’s attitude: “Get thee behind Me SATAN, for you care not for the things of God, but for THE THINGS OF MAN.” God things (obedience to His Word) and man things (obedience to church doctrine) are diametrically opposed. Satan has convinced churchman that he is serving God by doing the “things of man” which are foundational principles of the Counterfeit Church, many of which are highlighted at the beginning of this website.

Church sinners serve Satan by satisfying themselves, thereby taking their minds off of God, His Will and His Way. Listen to the conversation when church people get together. You will hear talk about the government, the weather, sports, the economy, etc.–everything but the Word of God Who commands that we speak of His Word/Law when we rise up and when we lie down, when we go out and when we come in (Deut. 6:6,7). Those who love God prove their love for Him by honoring and ingesting His Word continually. I greatly enjoy the fellowship of God-focused people whose lives revolve around His Word–the only information we have about Him. Alas, these are extremely few in number. To be continued.